Police officer who covered up Dharmaratnam Sivaram murder probe revealed
Sep 30, 2016
The police officer, who had covered up the investigations, on an order from the higher up, into the murder of senior Tamil journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram alias Taraki, has been revealed. Sivaram was abducted near Bambalapitiya police station while being with two friends on 28 April 2005.
The CCD had carried out investigations into the killing. At the time, its director was SSP Sarath Lugoda. He has retired now. Investigations are on to find out as to whether he was ordered to stop the investigations, or else he had stopped the investigations on his own.
On 13 June 2005, two suspects were arrested, but the CCD released them following an order from the higher up, saying their arrest could ‘endanger national security.’ It is not yet clear as to who had ordered Lugoda to release the two.
The CCD seized the Indian made Scorpio jeep with the no. WP HT 6276 said to have been used for Sivaram’s abduction. From the vehicle, the SIM of Sivaram’s mobile phone was recovered. With the assistance of Dialog GSM the arrests were made via triangular technology.
The registered owner of the jeep is PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddharthan, and its registered address is parliamentary affairs ministry at Ward Place, Colombo 07.
Peter is Siddharthan’s driver
In a previous article, we mentioned a person by the name Peter, whose real name is Arumugam Sri Skandaraja. The CCD found Sivaram’s phone SIM from his possession. This Peter, also Siddharthan's driver and armed wing leader of PLOTE, led the gang that made an unsuccessful attempt in 1998 to topple the Maldivian government. He is a citizen of Norway. He is to be arrested by the CID for questioning.
The CCD arrested him in connection with the Sivaram murder, but was released later. PLOTE leader Siddharthan has never been arrested or questioned with regard to the Sivaram killing.
Present with Sivaram at the time of his abduction were senior journalist Kusal Perera and cinematographer Prasanna Ratnayake, who is presently overseas. Neither has so far been summoned for questioning by the CCD. Perera has told the media that he would be able to identify the abduction vehicle, which had a spare tyre in its rear.
It is well known that by 2005, PLOTE had been carrying out operations as a paramilitary shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces. When he was first arrested, Peter confessed to the CCD that he had given Siddharthan’s jeep to a person by the name Raju for several days. The whereabouts of Raju were made known, but the CCD never went to arrest him, but in fact gave him two weeks to make his escape.
Accordingly, the CID has identified former DIG Sarath Lugoda as the officer who had covered up investigations into the Sivaram murder. Investigators are due to question him shortly.
On 13 June 2005, two suspects were arrested, but the CCD released them following an order from the higher up, saying their arrest could ‘endanger national security.’ It is not yet clear as to who had ordered Lugoda to release the two.
The CCD seized the Indian made Scorpio jeep with the no. WP HT 6276 said to have been used for Sivaram’s abduction. From the vehicle, the SIM of Sivaram’s mobile phone was recovered. With the assistance of Dialog GSM the arrests were made via triangular technology.
The registered owner of the jeep is PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddharthan, and its registered address is parliamentary affairs ministry at Ward Place, Colombo 07.
Peter is Siddharthan’s driver
In a previous article, we mentioned a person by the name Peter, whose real name is Arumugam Sri Skandaraja. The CCD found Sivaram’s phone SIM from his possession. This Peter, also Siddharthan's driver and armed wing leader of PLOTE, led the gang that made an unsuccessful attempt in 1998 to topple the Maldivian government. He is a citizen of Norway. He is to be arrested by the CID for questioning.
The CCD arrested him in connection with the Sivaram murder, but was released later. PLOTE leader Siddharthan has never been arrested or questioned with regard to the Sivaram killing.
Present with Sivaram at the time of his abduction were senior journalist Kusal Perera and cinematographer Prasanna Ratnayake, who is presently overseas. Neither has so far been summoned for questioning by the CCD. Perera has told the media that he would be able to identify the abduction vehicle, which had a spare tyre in its rear.
It is well known that by 2005, PLOTE had been carrying out operations as a paramilitary shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces. When he was first arrested, Peter confessed to the CCD that he had given Siddharthan’s jeep to a person by the name Raju for several days. The whereabouts of Raju were made known, but the CCD never went to arrest him, but in fact gave him two weeks to make his escape.
Accordingly, the CID has identified former DIG Sarath Lugoda as the officer who had covered up investigations into the Sivaram murder. Investigators are due to question him shortly.
